Wait, why are you starting a tech blog in 2024?

Hey, it's A. I work with first graders in a private school in Chicago. I’ve just started my third year with this age group. Previously I worked in early childhood education (ECE) leading classes of 3-5 year olds. My time with young learners reconnected me to my love of libraries as I went week after week to switch out armfuls as the unit themes changed. I have always been a voracious reader and consumer of stories- through theater, song, and great conversation. Years after my parents started the habit, I will sometimes ask my partner to read aloud to me after a particularly rough day. The last few days of summer were punctuated with lovely café reading breaks as I tried to up my book count before getting back to the busy season.

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I adore sharing my passion for stories and knowledge with children and I’ve been working on transitioning my career from the classroom to the school library to be a steward of stories and leader in the love of learning.

But a library takes on different forms for today’s children than it did for me. I know that the core mission is still the same: community service and connection to knowledge, but knowledge is found in different places and communities have evolving needs. The modern library is a technologically adept and adaptable place and I’ve got my work cut out for me getting myself ready to be an expert there.

Me + Technology =...

My niece just got her first cell phone and can (and will!) text me independently. I downloaded Duolingo and friended her to motivate her to practice Spanish. Her parents are not the greatest at communicating regularly and she lives 700+ miles away. This connection opportunity is beautiful and valuable and only possible with my use of technology.

So I’ll be curmudgeonly about it, but I cannot deny I use technology regularly and it gives me the ability to do things I otherwise wouldn’t be able to do. But I am slow to adapt and often fine making do with what I have for as long as it possibly works. I would never be able to have a piano in my apartment, but my 20 year old keyboard works fine. I am diabetic and can easily check my glucose level daily, but balk at the idea of continual monitoring or keeping self-analyzing digital records. I feel myself becoming my father in Best Buy scowling at the employees at the service desk whenever I have to ask my partner for help with the computer they reformatted for me… because I needed one for grad school and didn’t want to spend the money on a new one.

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The place where the grumpy persona switches to real concern is when I consider my fractured digital self. Due to family circumstances I missed a major period in my peers' lives when they first explored forming and reforming themselves online in chat rooms and message boards. I have never felt like I created a proper digital persona but I also feel profoundly unsafe being my authentic self on digital platforms. The threat of permanency juxtaposed with the effusive nature of disappearing resources leaves me nervous. I engage with a few social platforms as a holdover from younger days or a superficial way to share with a select family and friends.
I’ve still managed to work many places where I know a shortcut or a process that my coworkers don’t somehow, so I know realistically I’m more to the middle of the pack than I sometimes feel as I drag myself along. Working as a teacher I put a lot of stock into the idea folks learn and process differently, so I know that my preference for pen and paper notes is one part comfort, but also might just be my style and what works for my brain.

My Worldview Concerning Modern Technology

I’ve often self-identified as somewhat of a Luddite, but in the historical sense rather than the colloquial meaning which would just identify me as someone opposed to new technology. The Luddites were members of 19th century labor activism famous for smashing textile production machines to protest working conditions, devaluation of their labor, and inferior product output. The ire of Luddites was never about the machines themselves, but rather the way in which their usage was exploited to disenfranchise tradespersons. You can learn some more about the Luddites on this Wikipedia page or (if you were taught as I was in high school to never accept Wikipedia as a reliable source) read this article from Smithsonian Magazine.

Technology is a neutral tool, but its use exists within systems that perpetuate oppression and inequality. Fear over technological unemployment (loss of human jobs to technology) is frequently dismissed, but we can look at the latest waves of the ethical and economic questions concerning AI to see that the concerns are ever evolving. Big profit potentials are tied up in technological development and with big profits comes big denial of responsibility.
As technological advancements make the world more accessible, we are also building a world less accessible without technology access. A mobile phone is not a luxurious item for many people but a necessary tool to find and keep employment, receive timely medical care, or access services. There is often a form of luxury or privilege present when someone chooses to unplug because of the social expectations and infrastructure built; if one of my student’s parents/guardians and emergency contacts couldn’t be reached by phone it could easily become a serious situation whether or not that family personally desired constant connectability.

It may be easy to read this and feel like I’m taking on too much gloom and doom, but for me what it boils down to is caution and conscience. A global community has a lot of conflicting needs and desires and we have to find our way through one click at a time.

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